Pens Lucky to Have Bylsma – Not Boudreau

I am so glad that Dan Bylsma is the coach of the Penguins and not Pillsbury Dough Boy Bruce Boudreau. He doesn’t know how to keep his mouth shut when he should. I’m guessing it’s because he is not very intelligent.

We got a good look at Boudreau’s coaching personality on the first 24/7 epidsode. I’m wondering if this was the first time McPhee, the Caps General Manager, got a close-up look at him behind closed doors with his team. It might have been, because it surely seemed like he had a talk with Boudreau — his unprofessional behavior changed considerably for the next three episodes. (College students have actually made a drinking game out of this episode — drinking every time Boudreau drops an F-bomb, which happens about every third word.)

However a zebra can’t change his stripes and sooner or later Boudreau will again prove what a moron he is. His latest proof came as he berated Cooke for his knee hit on Ovechkin. He also berated Tim Wallace and the Pens in general for wanting to get a piece of Steckel. Steckel’s attacks were deliberate and need to be taken out of the game. Bruce must have forgotten what Ovechkin did to Gonchar – a playoff game knee-on-knee hit that was much more blatant and deliberate than Cooke’s hit. Did he really expect no Penguin to go after Steckel after what he did to Sidney Crosby? Somehow Boudreau seems to know that that particular hit was NOT deliberate. I’ve watched the hit 100 times. It wasn’t an accident. I”m still trying to figure out how the ref looking right at that hit deemed that it was not even a penalty. At the very minimum, it was interference since the puck was nowhere in sight.

Even Boudreau’s players would not attack Cooke or Wallace. They know that at some point one of the Caps will do something shady again and they know that they have in the past. I don’t know how they can have any respect for Boudreau as a person or as a coach. I actually don’t think they do. This will hurt them come playoff time again. His appearance, especially in that red warm-up suit on 24/7, doesn’t lend itself to commanding much respect either.

Bylsma does not get involved in these things as Boudreau does. He stands up for his players and understands that sometimes bad things happen in the game of hockey. He also understands that over the course of the season, his players will be on both sides of hits at one time or another. That’s the view from 207.

Note — What if the Canadian report about Crosby being out totally due to the concussion is not an error? Then does Steckel still get off with no repercussions for harming another person to this degree? Football has taken the lead with punishing the Steckels of football with harsh financial penalties for deliberately hitting to hurt or maim. Think about it, NHL.